Over 850 items stolen over a one-year period were unearthed following a search of a pond in Durrington

A ‘PROLIFIC’ gang of burglars who raided homes across the Herald and Gazette area before stashing their loot in a pond have been jailed for a total of more than 30 years.

Mark Coop, 27, Robert Mayers, 19, Daniel Oliver, 25, and Darren Hebberb, 21, have all been jailed after admitting their part for the crimes, which saw them breaking into at least 14 homes in Worthing, Climping, Lancing, Ferring, Findon and Angmering among others.

Items recovered by police divers last year PHOTO: Eddie Mitchell

Sam Beeney, 18, of Offington Drive, Worthing, also admitted his involvement in the burglary ring, although has yet to be sentenced for his role in the crime.

Detective Constable Emma Fields, from the force’s priority crime team, said: “The jailing of these men is a great result for their victims and for the residents of West Sussex.

“We were helped by the media publishing appeals and the public responding with information that meant we could show the gang were responsible for a series of burglaries.

“We have been able to link the men to more than a dozen burglaries.

They were a prolific gang and having them off the streets for several years will reduce the chance of people becoming a burglary victim.

Detective Constable Emma Fields, Sussex Police

“They were a prolific gang and having them off the streets for several years will reduce the chance of people becoming a burglary victim.”

A pond behind the home of Mark Coop and Robert Mayers, both of formerly of Whitebeam Road, Durrington, became a dumping ground for items the thieves couldn’t sell.

Coop and Mayers - along with Oliver, Hebberd and Beeney - broke into more than a dozen homes and used the victims’ own pillowcases or boxes to carry away their haul of jewellery and other items.

The crimes they have now been convicted of happened between June 2013 and June 2014.

A range of jewellery found by the police divers

Officers were able to link possessions dredged from the water to crimes across the county.

Police first stopped the suspects in November and December 2013 in a blue Seat Leon.

On each occasion officers searched the vehicles and found items that seemed out of place, including a pillowcase, a camera and a knife sheath.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “Crime scene investigators were able to link fragments of glass on the men’s clothing to a broken door at a house in Findon and officers were able to link the Seat Leon to other crime scenes.

The hunt well underway

“When a dog pulled a man’s jacket from a pond in Whitebeam Woods just yards from Mark Coop and Robert Mayers’ home in July 2014, a team from Sussex Police’s specialist search unit searched the water and recovered more than 850 items.

“Thanks to work by detectives and calls from members of the public, officers were able to link items such as watches, necklaces and rings from the pond to six burglaries and to the offenders.”

All five men were charged with conspiracy to commit 14 burglaries.

They each pleaded guilty when they appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court and were sentenced when they appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Monday (6 July).

Mayers was jailed for nine years after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary and separate counts of burglary, robbery, possession of a kitchen knife and possession of knuckledusters.

Coop, was jailed for seven years and ten months after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary and a separate charge of burglary.

While, Oliver, of no fixed address, was jailed for six years, Hebberd, of Church Way, Worthing, was jailed for four years and eight months.

Beeney is to be sentenced on July 31 at a court to be decided.

The investigation formed part of Sussex Police’s Operation Magpie launched to tackle burglary across the county.

If you have any information about burglaries, call 101 or email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk. For crime prevention advice visit www.sussex.police.uk

Alternatively, those who see or hear a burglary taking place should call 999 immediately.

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